Sixty years ago, Andre Courreges' space-age fashion took the world by storm. The man is gone, and now the new head of the brand, Belgian designer Nicolas Di Felice, is about to bring a new show. In the following interview, he shares his vision for the future.

If Le Corbusier's house is a living machine, Andre Courreges' clothing is a machine for human activity. Courreges, who trained with Cristobal Balenciaga and has an engineering background, has made designs that free the body from the traditional corset: dresses that dangle over the shoulders, ditching bras and darts; Thigh-length miniskirts; And the famous gogo boots.

Courreges' space-age futuristic designs quickly gained a cult following among socialites, including Jackie Kennedy and sister Lee Radziwill, L 'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and singer-songwriter Francoise Hardy.

Now, 60 years after Courreges founded the Paris couture house, new artistic director Nicolas Di Felice is about to make his debut.

The Belgian designer worked for Nicolas Ghesquie at Balenciaga and Louis Vuitton, working his way up from junior designer to senior designer, with a stint at Dior under Raf Simons in between.

His appointment as artistic director of Courreges was announced in September. Courreges had been relaunched around 2015, and the baton passed from Coperni design duo Arnaud Vaillant and Sebastien Meyer to Yolanda Zobel. Di Felice described the Fall/Winter 2021 collection as "an homage to the Courreges studio and fashion archive, but with more 'Belgian' elements." It was like being taken from the Brussels club to the sixth arrondissement of Paris."

The Paris Fashion Week show on March 3 will be broadcast after a few hours of taping. Before that, we caught up with the 37-year-old new head of Courreges via Zoom.

"I was born near Charleroi in Belgium, which has been called the 'ugliest city in the world', but I don't think so. The city was built around the coal and steel industries - both my grandfathers had emigrated from Italy to work in the mines, and life here was intense and post-industrial. When the wind blows, the building is covered with coal dust, which has earned it the nickname la terre noire, the black land. I think it's poetic and beautiful."

Music stimulated his interest in fashion

"MTV opened a window into fashion. Each band has its own style, which is reflected not only in their sound, but also in their clothing styling. I grew up listening to dance music on TV at The height of the New Beat movement in Belgium, and it was all Confetti's, Speedy J, LA Style, but my sister was into rock and metal bands (The Doors, Nirvana, Korn). With all the different posters on the walls of our house in the Belgian countryside, it was crazy to think that my sister's poster was next to mine."

... So he tried his hand at making music

"I started making electronic music when I was 12 years old. I begged my father to buy me software. I really like techno and dance music, and I was making music until I moved to Paris when I was 23, and I was making music every second after school."

Before joining Nicolas Ghesquiere, Di Felice studied at Cambrai School of Visual Arts in Brussels

"Every season we worked with Nicolas, we did in-depth research, and I got a lot of new cultural material - about artists, furniture designers and so on. If I had to pick one lesson from all of them, it would be the pursuit of precision. I remember that every piece on the show was perfect, like it had been Photoshopped."

After leaving Louis Vuitton in December 2019, he went on a road trip to the US before taking over at Courreges, a happy prelude

"I went on a trip with my best friend, the first time it was just the two of us - usually my boyfriend or his girlfriend would join, or a large group of people. The trip was very much in the style of American director Jim Jarmusch. We went to New Orleans, Texas, and ended up at the Material Art Fair in Mexico City. We were lucky -- we went straight into lockdown as soon as we got back to Paris."

He had no ambition to be an art director...

"I want to be comfortable working, but my biggest goal in life has nothing to do with work. I want to be a happy person, a good man and maybe have kids one day."

... But Courreges was up for it

"There aren't many brands I can take over. Andre has created a whole world, an aesthetic, an atmosphere that emanates from furniture and interior design - not just a beautiful dress. This has always moved me. Courreges always went straight to the point: one color, one geometry, one fabric, everything simple. And I'm at a stage where I love simple things."

Di Felice's Courreges will be affordable

"One of my first goals is to talk to young people. There is no point in selling clothes far beyond what they can afford. We have developed a new environmentally friendly vinyl that increases the content of recycled bio-based polyurethane to 70%, and our cotton fabrics are certified to the GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard). Trousers, dresses, tops, skirts, etc. are all made from this fabric (originally created by Courreges in the 1970s). We also reduced the price of the jacket from 1,000 euros to 750 euros."

He wants Courreges to last a lifetime, not just a one-season fad

"Courreges doesn't change every season, some things stay the same. I see a lot of people wearing Courreges pieces that came from their mothers or grandmothers; These clothes will never be thrown away, which I think is the best environmental protection. I don't like greenwashing [4] and I don't want to do a collection labeled 'eco-friendly'. In 2021, we will naturally try to be sustainable. I make new clothes, but I also try to design clothes that are not out of date."

... And he's building some kind of Courreges clique

"There are a lot of new faces in the 2021 Autumn/Winter collection. We will continue to work with these people next season. I have a loyal personality and friends and family are very important to me. Bernard Dubois, an architect friend of mine from college, and I have designed a shop that will open this month. Floors, ceilings, walls... "We put velvety white fabrics all over the place and installed gold mirrors to create an authentic club atmosphere."